Climate  and  civilization 
Ellsworth  Huntlngton 


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Climate   and    Civilization 


BY  ELLSWORTH    HUNTINGTON 

Department  of  Geography,  Yale  University 


HE  ideal  climate  is  said 
to  be  found  in  many 
parts  of  the  world,  but 
no  one  knows  exactly 
what  it  is.  We  are 
frequently  told  that 
southern  California  and 
the  Riviera  possess  it  at  all  times  of  the 
year,  and  that  Florida  has  it  in  winter 
and  the  Alps  in  summer.  Sometimes  we 
are  also  told  that  the  cold,  clear  air  of 
the  Alps  in  winter  is  ideal.  We  are  never 
told,  however,  that  an  ideal  climate  pre- 
vails in  New  England,  with  its  chill  east 
winds,  or  in  old  England,  with  its  fog 
and  rain.  Yet  there  is  as  much  reason 
for  thinking  that  it  prevails  in  these 
places  as  in  the  others.  The  whole  mat- 
ter depends  on  our  definition  of  "ideal." 
If  we  are  looking  simply  for  rest  and 
pleasure,  a  warm,  sunny  climate  is  prob-'. 
ably  the  best.  If  we  want  to  go  fishing, 
something  different  is  preferable.  The 
most  essential  fact  in  the  lives  of  the 
majority  of  mankind  is  work.  There- 
fore the  climate  which  is  best  for  work  is 
ideal  from  that  point  of  view.  That  is 
the  kind  which  we  shall  here  consider. 
If  we  take  efficiency  in  the  daily  work 
of  life  as  our  standard,  it  is  possible  to 
measure  what  people  actually  do  under 
different  climatic  conditions,  and  thus  to 
form  an  estimate  of  the  best  kind  of 
climate.  From  the  work  of  about  five 
hundred  factory  operatives  in  southern 
Connecticut  and  of  about  eighteen  hun- 
dred students  at  West  Point  and  An- 
napolis, as  has  been  explained  in  a  pre- 
ceding article,  I  have  prepared  curves 
showing  the  relative  efficiency  under  dif- 
ferent conditions  of  temperature,  humid- 
ity, and  storminess.  These  curves, 
based  on  investigations  among  a  large 
number  of  individuals,  agree  with  similar 
curves  prepared  on  the  basis  of  a  smaller 
number  of  people  by  two  Danish  psy- 
chologists, Lehmann  and  Pedersen,  in 
Copenhagen.  The  two  sets  of  data 

VOL.  CXXX.— No.  777.— 46 


-  show  that  the  physical  activity  of  the 
races  of  western  Europe  is  greatest  when 
the  average  temperature  is  about  60 
degrees— that  is,  on  days  when  the  ther- 
mometer goes  down  to  perhaps  5a  or 
55  degrees  at  night  and  rises  to  about 
65  or  70  degrees  by  day.  Mental  activ- 
ity, on  the  other  hand,  is  greatest  when 
the  average  is  a  little  belowj-O  degrees — 
that  is,  on  days  which  may  have  a  frost 
at  night.  Since  life  consists  of  both 
mental  and  physical  activity,  and  each 
is  essential  to  success,  the  most  favorable 
conditions  would  seem  to  be  those  where 
the  temperature  never  falls  far  below 
the  optimum,  or  most  propitious  point 
for  mental  work,  or  rises  above  the 
optimum  for  physical  work.  In  other 
words,  if  the  mean  temperature  were  the 
only  thing  to  be  considered,  the  best 
climate  would  be  one  where  the  average  L 
in  winter  is  about  40  and  the  average 
in  summer  about  60  degrees.  ,  Only  a 
few  parts  of  the  world  are  blessed  with 
such  conditions.  The  most  important 
of  these,  both  in  area  and  in  population, 
is  England.  Next  comes  the  northern 
Pacific  coast  of  the  United  States,  from 
Oregon  to  the  southern  part  of  British 
Columbia.  Here,  unfortunately,  the 
mountains  rise  close  to  the  sea,  and  so 
prevent  the  favorable  conditions  from 
penetrating  far  inland.  A  third  highly 
favored  area  is  found  in  New  Zealand, 
especially  the  southern  island.  This, 
like  its  two  predecessors,  is  recognized  as 
one  of  the  highly  advanced  parts  of  the 
earth.  The  fourth  and  last  of  the  places 
where  the  mean  temperature  is  particu- 
larly favorable  is  not  generally  so  recog- 
nized. It  lies  in  Patagonia  and  the 
corresponding  part  of  Chili,  between 
latitudes  45°  and  50°  S.  Few  people 
live  here,  and  we  are  apt  to  think  of  it 
as  of  relatively  slight  value.  It  differs 
from  the  other  three  regions  in  having  a 
deficient  rainfall  except  in  the  western 
part,  which  is  extremely  mountainous. 

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From  what  has  just  been  said  it  must 
not  be  inferred  that  the  climates  of  Eng- 
land, the  northern  Pacific  coast  of  the 
United  States,  New  Zealand,  and  Pata- 
gonia are  necessarily  ideal.  Mean  tern-  \ 
perature  is  by  no  means  the  only  im- 
portant condition.  In  the  first  place, 
not  only  a  deficiency  of  moisture,  as  in 
a  large  part  of  Patagonia,  but  an  excess, 
as  in  the  mountains  of  southern  Chili  or 
in  Ireland,  which  otherwise  is  almost  as 
favored  as  England,  may  hamper  a  coun- 
try. Such  conditions  produce  not  only 
an  adverse  economic  effect  by  making 
agriculture  difficult,  but  also  a  direct 
effect  upon  people's  capacity  for  work. 
A  moderate  degree  of  dampness — that 
is,  a  relative  humidity  of  from  65  per 
cent,  in  summer  to  '90  per  cent,  in  win- 
ter— is  favorable,  but  when  the  summers 
are  wet  or  the  winters  very  dry,  people 
do  not  work  so  well. 

In  its  direct  physiological  and  mental 
effect,  a  third  climatic  element  seems  to 
be  much  more  important  than  humidity. 
This  is  the  change  in  mean  tempera- 
ture from  one  day  to  another.  The 
only  tests  of  this  that  have  yet  been 
made  are  those  which  I  have  described 
in  a  previous  article,  but  inasmuch  as 
both  men  and  girls  in  factories  and  stu- 
dents at  our  military  and  naval  acade- 
mies appear  to  be  similarly  influenced, 
it  seems  safe  to  infer  that  the  same  is 
true  of  Europeans  in  general.  In  Con- 
necticut the  effect  of  changes  of  temper- 
ature from  day  to  day  is  about  half  as 
great  as  the  effect  of  the  changes 
from  season  to  season.  If  the  tem- 
perature remains  unchanged,  people 
work  slowly.  If  it  rises,  they  may  be 
stimulated  a  little.  If  it  falls,  on  the 
other  hand,  provided  the  fall  is  not  ex- 
cessive, there  is  a  decided  stimulus.  The 
effect  of  constant  changes  of  weather 
may  be  compared  to  that  produced  upon 
a  horse  by  a  good  driver.  If  the  animal 
is  allowed  to  go  his  own  gait,  with  no 
stimulus  whatever,  he  will  travel  fast 
at  first  and  then  settle  down  to  a  slow 
pace  which  will  protract  a  journey  in- 
definitely. If  he  is  constantly  urged  to 
his  topmost  speed,  he  may  make  the 
first  journey  quickly,  but  he  will  soon 
break  down.  The  wise  driver  urges  him 
for  a  short  time,  and  then  lets  him  go 
more  slowly.  By  constantly  repeating 


this  process  he  gets  good  speed  from  his 
animal,  and  yet  prevents  him  from  be- 
coming exhausted.  This  is  what  con- 
stant-changes of  temperature  seem  to  do 
to  man.  Therefore,  in  reckoning  the 
value  of  any  climate  from  the  point  of 
view  of  efficiency,  storms  must  be  rated 
as  of  high  value.  If  they  alone  were  the 
.controlling  element,  southern  Canada, 
from  Alberta  eastward,  would  possess 
the  best  climate  in  the  world,  while  the 
northern  United  States,  from  the  Dako- 
tas  and  Nebraska  eastward,  the  north- 
^western  part  of  Europe,  northern  Italy, 
and  Japan  would  come  next.  England, 
it  will  be  noticed,  is  the  only  country 
included  both  in  the  regions  just  men- 
tioned and  in  those  where  the  mean  tem- 
perature of  the  seasons  approaches  the 
ideal. 

In  order  to  determine  the  climates  in 
which  people  are  most  efficient,  it  is 
clearly  necessary  to  take  account  of  all 
the  factors  that  have  just  been  men- 
tioned, and  also  of  others  of  less  im- 
portance which  have  not  yet  been 
worked  out.  When  this  is  done  for 
many  countries  and  races  we  shall  be 
able  to  construct  a  map  showing  the 
approximate  efficiency  which  people  of 
any  particular  race  would  have  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  provided  climate 
were  the  determining  factor. 

Such  a  map  in  final  form  is  not  yet 
possible,  but  we  can  make  a  first  ap- 
proximation. Of  the  three  main  cli- 
matic factors  mentioned  in  the  preced- 
ing paragraphs,  only  one,  the  mean 
temperature  of  the  seasons,  has  been 
summed  up  by  meteorologists  in  such  a 
way  that  the  data  are  easily  available. 
A  great  deal  is  known  about  the  other 
two — that  is,  about  changes  of  tempera- 
ture from  day  to  day,  and  relative  hu- 
midity— but  to  get  the  figures  for  a  thou- 
sand or  more  stations,  as  is  done  in  the 
case  of  mean  temperature,  would  take 
years  of  work  or  else  the  expenditure  of 
thousands  of  dollars.  Accordingly,  it  has 
been  necessary  to  omit  humidity  en- 
tirely. Fortunately,  the  general  effects 
of  this  can  readily  be  determined.  In 
the  places  where  most  of  the  world's 
inhabitants  are  gathered,  differences  of 
humidity  are  relatively  unimportant 
compared  with  differences  in  tempera- 
ture. The  chief  effect  of  this  factor  is 


CLIMATE  AND  CIVILIZATION 


369 


seen  in  deserts  and  in  the  moist  parts  of 
the  torrid  zone.  In  both  of  these  places, 
but  especially  in  the  torrid  zone,  peo- 
ple's efficiency,  so  far  as  it  is  influenced 
by  climate,  is  relatively  lower  than  ap- 
pears on  the  maps  which  are  presented 
with  this  article. 

The  figures  for  changes  of  temperature 
from  day  to  day  are  also  not  yet  avail- 
able for  a  great  number  of  stations. 
Such  changes,  however,  depend  chiefly 
upon  the  number  of  storms  and  upon  the 
range  of  temperature  from  the  coldest 
to  the  warmest  periods.  These  two  con- 
ditions are  well  known  for  most  parts  of 
the  world.  By  using  them  we  obtain 
an  approximation  to  our  desired  end. 
It  must  be  clearly  understood,  however, 
that  this  is  only  an  approximation,  and 
is  liable  to  error  in  certain  respects. 
For  example,  the  coast  of  California  has 
few  storms  and  only  a  slight  range  of 
temperature  from  season  to  season.  Its 
mean  temperature,  however,  is  highly 
favorable,  and  in  the  portions  close  to 
the  sea  there  are  frequent  stimulating 
changes  from  day  to  day.  Some  allow- 
ance has  been  made  for  this,  but  its 
amount  may  not  be  correct.  Elsewhere 
almost  opposite  conditions  may  prevail. 
For  instance,  the  southern  part  of  South 
America  has  many  storms,  but  they  do 
not  bring  great  changes  of  temperature. 
Hence,  in  constructing  our  map  that 
region  receives  a  value  higher  than  prop- 
eily  belongs  to  it.  These  examples  indi- 
cate that  in  examining  the  maps  rela- 
tively little  attention  must  be  given  to 
details.  The  main  outstanding  features 
are  approximately  correct,  however,  and 
they  alone  should  be  considered  until 
further  data  are  available. 

The  map  of  human  energy  on  the 
basis  of  the  climatic  conditions  which 
have  just  been  set  forth  is  given  in  Fig.  i. 
In  constructing  this  the  world  has  been 
divided  into  six  kinds  of  regions,  accord- 
ing to  a  rigid  mathematical  scale.  The 
places  shaded  black  have  a  climate 
favorable  to  a  very  high  degree  of  en- 
ergy in  people  of  European  races.  The 
next  darker  degree  of  shading  indicates 
places  where  high  energy  would  be 
looked  for,  although  not  the  highest. 
The  light  lines  indicate  medium  energy, 
the  heavy  dots  low,  and  the  scattered 
dots  very  low  energy.  The  unshaded 


areas  represent  places  where  the  condi- 
tions are  still  worse  than  in  the  very  low 
areas. 

Let  us  examine  the  map  closely.    The 


most  noticeable  feature  is  the 


group 


of 


two  large  black  areas  in  the  United 
States  and  part  of  southern  Canada,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  in  western  Europe  on 
the  other.  Each  of  these  is  surrounded 
by  high  areas  of  large  extent.  The  re- 
maining high  areas,  three  in  number,  are 
surprisingly  limited.  The  one  in  Japan 
is  shown  as  extending  over  into  Korea, 
but  this  is  doubtful,  for  the  climatic 
records  of  storms  in  this  region  are  very 
imperfect.  The  New  Zealand  area  ex- 
tends over  into  the  southeastern  corner 
of  Australia,  and  is  probably  essentially 
correct.  Finally,  although  the  South 
American  area  certainly  should  be  placed 
on  the  map,  its  exact  extent  is  doubtful, 
and  we  are  not  yet  certain  whether  any 
portion  of  it  should  be  put  in  the  very 
high  division,  or  whether  the  southern 
part  should  be  represented  by  fine  lines 
because  it  falls  in  the  medium  division. 
In  far  northern  regions  people's  energy 
falls  off  more  than  would  be  expected. 
We  know  that  population  is  scanty  in 
the  most  northerly  parts  of  Canada  and 
Siberia,  and  that  civilization  there  is  at 
a  low  ebb.  We  commonly  think,  how- 
ever, that  this  is  due  to  the  difficulties 
of  agriculture  and  to  the  fact  that  nature 
will  not  permit  many  people  to  get  a  liv- 
ing. From  the  map,  however,  it  appears 
that  in  addition  to  this  there  is  a  great 
falling  ofFin  energy,  so  that  even  if  other 
circumstances  were  favorable  we  should 
not  look  for  any  great  achievements. 
Within  thirty  degrees  of  the  equator 
conditions  are  just  about  as  we  should 
expect.  So  far  as  mere  energy  is  con- 
cerned, the  dry  areas  are  actually  some- 
what better  than  appears  on  the  map, 
while  wet  regions,  such  as  the  Amazon 
Basin  and  central  Africa,  are  worse.  On 
the  great  highlands  of  South  America 
and  Africa  conditions  are  much  better 
than  in  the  lowlands,  and  the  same  is 
true  of  some  of  the  higher  parts  of 
India,  which  are  too  small  for  insertion 
in  our  map.  The  striking  fact  about 
the  equatorial  highlands,  however,  is 
that  none  of  them  has  a  climate  where 
a  high  degree  of  energy  would  be  ex- 
pected. We  are  often  told  that  the 


160          160         HO          KO         20O          80  60         40  ZO  O  &O          4O          6O          SO  7OO 


FIG.  1— DISTRIBUTION   OF   HUMAN    ENERGY  ON   THE   BASIS    OF  CLIMATE 


climate  of  tropical  highlands  is  as  fine 
as  any  in  the  world.     Not  infrequently 

feople  are  urged  to  colonize  such  regions, 
n  book  after  book  we  read  that  so  far 
as  the  climate  of  such  places  is  concerned 
there  is  not  the  slightest  reason  why  the 
white  man  should  not  live  there  as  well 
as  at  home.  Our  map  seems  to  point  to 
a  different  conclusion.  Though  white 
men  may  retain  their  health  in  tropical 
highlands,  we  should  not  expect  them  to 
have  the  vigor  and  energy  which  they 
have  in  Europe  and  America,  or  in 
Japan,  southern  Australia,  and  southern 
South  America. 

By  far  the  most  unexpected  feature 
of  the  map  is  the  diminution  of  energy 
as  one  proceeds  eastward  from  western 
Europe  to  central  Asia.  This  is  even 
greater  than  appears  in  the  map,  for  in 
these  latitudes  the  extreme  dryness  of 
deserts  apparently  tends  to  diminish 
man's  energy,  and  the  center  of  Asia  is 
one  of  the  driest  places  in  the  world. 

Long  before  this  the  reader  has  doubt- 
less taken  note  of  the  rather  close  resem- 
blance between  the  distribution  of  en- 
ergy on  a  climatic  basis  and  the  actual 
distribution  of  civilization.  The  close- 
ness of  the  resemblance  led  me  to  at- 


tempt to  construct  a  map  of  civilization 
in  order  that  the  two  might  be  compared. 
The  wisest  plan  seemed  to  be  to  secure 
the  co-operation  of  widely  informed  men 
in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Accordingly,  I 
wrote  to  about  two  hundred  persons, 
chiefly  professional  geographers,  but 
including  statesmen,  travelers,  anthro- 
pologists, missionaries,  and  others.  Slips 
were  sent  bearing  the  names  of  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-five  countries  or  parts 
of  countries,  and  the  request  was  made 
that  the  slips  be  sorted  into  ten  groups 
according  to  the  status  of  each  region 
in  the  scale  of  civilization.  Civilization 
was  defined  as  being  dependent  upon 
"those  characteristics  which  are  gener- 
ally recognized  as  of  the  highest  value. 
I  mean  by  this  the  power  of  initiative, 
the  capacity  for  formulating  new  ideas 
and  for  carrying  them  into  effect,  the 
power  of  self-control,  high  standards  of 
honesty  and  morality,  the  power  to  lead 
and  control  other  races,  the  capacity  for 
disseminating  ideas,  and  other  similar 
qualities  which  will  readily  suggest 
themselves.  These  qualities  find  expres- 
sion in  high-  ideals,  respect  for  law,  in- 
ventiveness, ability  to  develop  philo- 
sophical systems,  stability  and  honesty 


ISO  MO  1ZO          700          SO  60  4 


60          SO  WO         IZO         140         16O         ISO 


FIG.  2 — THE   DISTRIBUTION    OF  CIVILIZATION 


of  government,  a  highly  developed  s 
tem  of  education,  the  capacity 
nate  the  less  civilized  parts  o 
world,  and  the  ability  to  carry  out  far- 
reaching  enterprises  covering  long  peri- 
ods of  time  and  great  areas  of  the  earth's 
surface." 

The  classification  of  the  various  coun- 
tries is  by  no  means  a  light  task.  In 
many  cases  people  sp^tf  from  half  a  day 
to  two  entire  days  M^^  it.  In  spite  of 
this  over  fifty  people  .made  the  classifi- 
cation. About  half[wejfe  Americans, 
including  one  Canadian^  others  were 
English,  German,  French,  Italian,  Span- 
ish, Portuguese,  Danish,.  Norwegian, 
Russian,  Chinese,  and  Japanese.  It 
was  particularly  gratifying  that  five  Jap- 
anese and  Chinese  co-operated.  It  was 
also  highly  fortunate  that  the  classifica- 
tions were  made  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  great  war  had  destroyed  peo- 
ple's fairness  of  judgment.  In  obtain- 
ing the  average  opinion  it  seemed 
wiser  not  to  give  each  individual  the 
same  weight,  but  to  let  each  race  or 
group  of  races  have  the  same  impor- 
tance. Thus  the  Americans,  the  British, 
the  Teutonic  Europeans,  the  Latin 
Europeans,  including  one  Russian,  and 


the  Asiatics  were  averaged  separately. 
Then  these  averages  were  again  aver- 
aged to  give  the  final  result.  Thus  the 
opinion  of  the  Asiatics  has  precisely  the 
same  weight  as  that  of  the  Americans. 
In  almost  all  cases  one  can  detect  a  ten- 
dency to  place  one's  own  country  or  race 
rather  higher  than  other  people  think 
right.  This  is  especially  marked  where 
the  more  backward  outposts  of  a  given 
race  are  concerned.  Otherwise  the  classi- 
fications made  by  the  various  races 
agree  to  a  surprising  extent.  England 
comes  put  highest.  It  is  the  only  place 
which  is  invariably  placed  in  the  highest 
or  tenth  class.  Other  places,  such  as  the 
more  advanced  parts  of  Germany, 
France,  and  the  United  States,  are  given 
a  slightly  lower  position  in  at  least  one 
classification. 

The  final  results  of  this  classification 
are  shown  in  Fig.  2.  All  the  regions  hav- 
ing a  rank  of  8.5  or  higher  are  rated  as 
very  high,  and  are  shaded  black.  Those 
from  7  to  8.5  are  high,  and  are  shaded  in 
heavy  lines;  5  to  7,  medium,  in  light 
lines;  3  to  5,  low,  in  heavy  dots;  and 
under  3,  very  low,  in  scattered  dots. 
The  first  thing  that  attracts  attention 
is  the  general  resemblance  to  the  map  of 


372 


HARPER'S  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 


energy.  In  both  maps,  for  example, 
there  is  a  high  area  in  the  middle  of 
western  Europe.  A  tongue  extends  down 
into  Italy,  another  projects  toward 
Rumania,  and  a  third  to  the  Baltic. 
Lapland  is  the  seat  of  a  low  area.  A 
relatively  high  projection  runs  out  into 
Siberia.  Here  the  high  area  of  the  map 
of  civilization  extends  about  as  far  as 
the  medium  area  of  the  energy  map. 
This  is  not  surprising,  for  even  if  the 
people  of  Siberia  have  as  much  energy 
as  is  indicated  by  the  energy  map,  they 
are  hampered  by  their  remoteness  and 
by  the  newness  of  their  country,  not  to 
mention  other  conditions.  It  may  be, 
too,  that  the  question  of  racial  ability 
enters  into  the  matter,  and  causes  Si- 
beria to  be  lower  on  the  map  of  civiliza- 
tion than  upon  the  other.  The  signifi- 
cant thing  is  that  in  both  maps  there  is 
the  same  falling-off  toward  central  Asia. 
Still  farther  east,  China  and  Japan  are 
essentially  alike  upon  both  maps,  China 
being  medium  and  Japan  high.  In  Indo- 
China,  and  much  more  in  India,  the  two 
maps  differ.  Apparently  this  arises  from 
the  fact  that  these  regions  are  under 
European  domination.  This  does  not 
apply  to  Siam,  however,  which  has 
worked  out  its  own  salvation.  It  ranks 
as  very  low  on  the  energy  map,  and  only 
as  low  on  the  other.  This  may  have  no 
significance.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may 
mean  various  things.  Possibly  the  cli- 
matic records  of  Siam  are  so  imperfect 
that  we  have  not  been  able  to  give  it 
quite  the  right  grade  on  the  energy 
map.  It  is  equally  probable  that  the 
races  of  Indo-China  and  India  may  by 
long  residence  have  become  differen- 
tiated from  Europeans,  so  that  they  are 
not  so  susceptible  to  the  influence  of 
steady  heat.  Again,  we  know  that  race 
differs  from  race  in  its  inheritance,  and 
the  Siamese  may  inherit  stronger  traits 
than  those  which  are  possessed  by  their 
neighbors  in  the  East  Indies,  for  exam- 
ple, for  in  most  of  those  islands  both 
maps  are'Very  low.  Finally,  other  pos- 
sibilities are  that  the  Siamese  have  been 
raised  by  contact  with  other  races,  by 
the  adoption  of  particular  institutions  of 
government,  religion,  and  social  organi- 
zation, or  by  the  work  of  a  few  men  of 
unusual  gifts.  I  mention  all  these  possi- 
bilities, not  because  they  are  of  special 


importance  in  relation  to  Siam,  but  be- 
cause they  illustrate  some  of  the  great 
number  of  influences  which  play  a  part 
in  causing  a  country  to  stand  high  or 
low  in  the  scale  of  civilization.  In  view 
of  all  these  factors  and  the  strong  influ- 
ence which  any  one  of  them  may  exert, 
it  is  by  no  means  surprising  that  the 
maps  of  civilization  and  energy  show 
disagreements.  The  truly  astonishing 
thing  is  that  in  spite  of  everything  they 
should  present  so  pronounced  an  agree- 
ment. 

One  of  the  features  that  stands  out 
most  prominently  when  the  two  maps 
are  compared  is  the  effect  which  a  strong 
race  with  good  government  and  high 
ideals  produces  upon  regions  to  which 
Europeans  have  gone  during  recent 
times.  Again  and  again  one  notes  places 
where  the  presence  of  such  a  race  causes 
a  region  to  be  higher  injcivilization  than 
would  be  expected  on  the  basis  of  energy 
as  determined  by  climate.  In  the  East 
Indies,  for  example,  Java  and  the  Phil- 
ippines are  higher  than  the  other  islands. 
In  Australia  the  general  decrease  from 
southeast  to  northwest  is  the  same  in 
both  maps,  but  the  fact  that  this  conti- 
nent is  English  raises  the  very  low  places 
to  low,  the  low  to  medium,  and  so  on 
until  there  is  a  large  high  area  in  the 
southeast.  In  South  Africa  and  Egypt 
the  same  is  true. 

In  the  United  States  the  energy  map 
shows  a  strip  of  medium  along  the  south- 
ern frontier,  but  this  is  all  rated  as  high 
on  the  other  map.  This  seems  to  illus- 
trate the  way  in  which  a  strong  race 
with  high  institutions  can  overcome  the 
handicap  of  a  climate  which  is  only 
moderate.  In  the  central  states  and  in 
the  Canadian  northwest,  on  the  other 
hand,  civilization  is  not  so  high  as  one 
would  expect.  Perhaps  this  is  because 
the  country  is  new.  Being  new,  it  is 
only  just  coming  into  its  own,  and  Chi- 
nese, Russians,  and  other  foreigners, 
even  though  they  have  traveled  and 
studied  extensively,  do  not  realize  how 
great  is  the  progress  of  recent  times. 
California,  like  the  southern  states,  is 
relatively  higher  on  the  map  of  civiliza- 
tion than  on  that  of  energy.  As  already 
explained,  this  may  be  in  part  due  to  the 
impossibility  of  making  a  wholly  accu- 
rate map  of  energy  as  yet.  It  may  also 


CLIMATE  AND  CIVILIZATION 


373 


arise  from  the  location  of  California  on 
the  Pacific  seaboard. 

Turning  to  Latin  America,  we  find 
about  what  would  be  expected  in  Mexico 
and  Central  America.  The  highlands 
are  medium  and  the  lowlands  low.  In 
South  America,  on  the  contrary,  there 
are  some  unexpected  features.  The  , 
countries  of  the  Andean  highlands — 
namely,  Venezuela,  Colombia,  Ecuador, 
Peru,  and  Bolivia — are  all  ranked  as  low 
in  civilization,  whereas  the  climatic  map 
would  indicate  a  medium  degree  of  en- 
ergy. In  Africa  the  same  phenomenon 
is  observable  along  the  belt  of  highlands 
on  the  east  side  of  the  continent.  Per- 
haps this  means  that  an  equatorial  cli- 
mate is  even  more  debilitating  than 
would  be  expected  on  the  basis  of  the 
work  of  factory  operatives  in  summer. 
Argentina  goes  to  the  other  extreme, 
which  is  a  hopeful  sign  for  the  races  of 
Latin  America.  The  central  part  of  the 
country  is  higher  than  would  be  ex- 
pected, which  suggests  that  with  even  a 
moderate  opportunity  the  Latin  Amer- 
ican race  is  able  to  rise  to  a  high  position. 

Let  us  turn  back  now  to  the  more 
general  aspects  of  the  two  maps.  In 
spite  of  minor  disagreements  the  main 
features  are  essentially  the  same.  Both 
show  two  great  high  areas  in  the 
United  States  and  western  Europe,  a 
pronounced  decline  from  the  western 
border  of  Russia  eastward,  and  a  rise 
to  high  conditions  on  the  far  eastern 
edge  of  Asia  in  Japan.  Likewise,  the 
shape  of  the  very  low  areas  in  Africa 
and  South  America  is  alike  in  both 
cases.  South  of  latitude  30°  each  of  the 
southern  continents  rises,  and  the  rise 
is  more  pronounced  on  the  eastern  side 
than  on  the  western.  Even  where  the 
two  maps  disagree,  the  explanation  of 
the  disagreement  is  usually  obvious  from 
a  consideration  of  the  recent  movements 
of  European  peoples.  The  few  remain- 
ing discrepancies  are  almost  all  explica- 
ble on  well-known  grounds,  such  as  the 
impossibility  of  agriculture,  which  pre- 
vents civilization  from  rising  as  high  as 
would  be  expected  in  the  northern  parts 
of  America  and  Asia. 

When  allowance  is  made  for  obvious 
facts  such  as  these,  the  resemblance  be- 
tween the  two  maps  becomes  increas- 
ingly striking.  They  were  constructed 


quite  independently.  Neither  repre- 
sents the  ideas  of  any  one  individual. 
The  map  of  civilization  represents  the 
independent  opinion  of  fifty  persons  of  a 
dozen  different  nations.  The  other  sim- 
ply shows  how  much  energy  people  would 
have  if  their  energy  depended  mainly 
on  temperature,  and  if  all  parts  of  the 
world  were  inhabited  by  people  like 
those  of  the  eastern  United  States.  J  It 
is  hard  to  think  of  any  other  kind  of  map 
that  would  so  closely  reproduce  the 
features  of  the  map  of  civilization.  If 
race  were  made  the  criterion,  we  should 
find  places  of  high  civilization  where 
Teutons,  Latins,  and  Japanese  prevail. 
We  should  also  find  low  places  where 
Teutons  predominate — in  Alaska,  for  ex- 
ample— and  where  Latins  predominate, 
as  in  parts  of  South  America,  but  we 
should  not  find  any  low  place  for  the 
Japanese.  If  religion  is  the  criterion, 
we  should  find  that,  although  Protes- 
tant Christianity  prevails  only  in  places 
which  are  high  or  very  high,  Roman 
Catholic  Christianity  prevails  in  places 
that  range  from  very  high  to  very  low, 
and  Greek  Christianity  from  high  to  low. 
Buddhism  likewise  ranges  from  high  to 
low,  and  Mohammedanism  from  medi- 
um to  very  low.  If  form  of  government 
is  our  criterion,  we  find  republics  ranging 
from  very  high  in  Switzerland  and 
France  to  low  or  very  low  in  Venezuela. 
Limited  but  autocratic  monarchies  ex- 
ist in  high  countries  like  Germany,  and 
in  low  countries  like  Turkey  and  Persia,^/ 
Thus  we  might  go  on  to  point  out  how 
surprising  it  is  that  the  maps  of  energy 
and  civilization  should  agree  so  closely. 
Their  agreement  seems  to  point  to  a  far- 
reaching  conclusion.  It  suggests  not 
only  that  civilization  can  rise  to  a  high 
level  only  where  man's  physical  and 
mental  energy  is  high,  but  also  that 
energy  is  high  only  where  certain  favor- 
able conditions  of  climate  prevail.  /This 
does  not  mean  that  the  climate  is  the 
cause  of  civilization,  for  the  cause  lies 
vastly  deeper  in  the  unknown  force 
which  gives  rise  to  evolution.  It  merely 
rreans  that  one  of  the  many  conditions 
necessary  for  the  rise  and  preservation 
of  civilization  seems  to  be  the  existence 
of  a  favorable  combination  of  mean  tern-  /  / 
perature  from  season  to  season  and  of  TTl~ 
changes  of  temperature  from  day  to  day.  // 


127685 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

liis  book  U  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


V 

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315  n< 

antly,  as  though  it  had  been/a  challenge, 
and  felt,  though  he  did  nov'deign  to  see, 
the  blight  that  marked  tfte  path  of  the 
wind. 

There  had  been  no  rain  since  June,  and 
this  was  August.  But  the  prairie  crop  is 
used  to  drought  and  there  had  been  hope 
for  the  corn  until  the  hot  winds  came 
three  days  before:  Since  that  time 
Enoch  Cornwall  had  neither  eaten  nor 
slept.  At  night  he  sat  brooding  by  his 
doorstep  until  dawn.  When  the  heat 
was  most  intense  he  walked  bareheaded 
through  the  fields,  lifting  his  head  sud- 
denly whenever  the  wind  smote  his 
cheek.  His  great  frame  had  become 
gaunt,  and  his  cheeks  drawn,  but  a  fierce 
light  burned  in  his  eyes,  bloodshot  from 
sleeplessness  and  the  glare  from  the  sun. 
The  dust  and  burning  heat  had  dulled 
the  blackness  of  his  matted  hair.  The 
perspiration  had  caked  the  dust  on  his 


|ncared-for  figure 
Hie  zealous,  self- 
ihad  guided  the 
|ffairsoftheWal- 
lor  more  than  two 
Ibeing  a  misnomer 
It  had  neither  wal- 
tt  was  the  name- 
Ipot  in  that  indefi- 
[BackEast.")  For 
[the  shepherd  of  a 
to  worship  in  the 
>l-house  barely  vis- 
"om  where  he  now 
-house  had  held  no 
;  because  the  flock, 
season  advanced, 
ands  whence  they 

Eut  forth  no  hand 
ad  been  a  day — 
lied  with  scorn  at 
e  had  babbled  fool- 
ishioners  about  the 
and  had  exhorted 
t  their  hands  to  the 
315  not  now  look  back. 

^  the  summer  when 

the  grasshoppers  had  riddled  the  prom- 
ising fields,  or  before  the  sand-storms  of 
early  spring  had  blown  out  the  wheat,  or 
the  hot  winds  had  blasted  the  earth. 

Three  times  had  the  discouraged  peo- 
ple taken  heart  a^ain,  encouraged  by  the 
fair  promises  of  a  crop,  and  each  time 
their  faith  had  been  mocked  and  their 
efforts  returned  to  them  fruitless.  At 
first  Enoch  had  preached  with  great  fer- 
vor, assuring  them  that  God  only  desired 
a  fiery  trial  of  their  faith;  and  at  the  cru- 
cial moment  he  would  stay  the  forces  o£ 
destruction  as  God  had  stayed  the  hand 
of  Abraham  and  restored  Isaac.  He 
charged  their  early  failures  to  a  lack  of 
faith,  and  urged  them  with  passionate 
zeal  to  greater  exhibitions  of  trust. 

He  was  gifted  with  the  eloquence  and 
dominating  zeal  of  the  born  leader.  His 
superabundance  of  physical  vitality  and 
confidence  carried  his  flock  through  one 


3  "1158  00619  8435 


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